Here is a successful entrepreneur who sets out to astonish you a lot and scare you a little. And succeeds: what looks like a series of humorous essays from his chequered past and favourite films becomes a fascinating detective story into myth, existential philosophy, depth psychology, alchemy and our individual potential. Here is a man who, in his own words, took the midlife crisis and turned it on its head.

He begins by asking you simple questions. And, as he says, they stay simple for...